Coronavirus Updates, March 28: India Has 909 Confirmed Cases

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On the third day of the national lockdown in India to contain the spread of the coronavirus, there was a significant jump in the number of confirmed cases. As of Saturday evening, the health ministry reported that there are 819 confirmed active cases in the country.

As per the ministry, the virus has now affected a total number of 862 Indian nationals, and 47 foreign nationals within the country. Out of these affected cases, there have been 80 full recoveries and 19 deaths recorded within India.

Globally, the confirmed number of cases continues to rise at an alarming rate as the total number of confirmed cases across the globe crossed the 6 lakh mark on Saturday, with 6,14,884 confirmed cases as on Saturday evening. In Italy, after 919 patients died within 24 hours, the biggest one-day jump in deaths in any country so far, the death toll has now crossed over 10% of their confirmed cases at 9,134 and the global death toll stands at 28,687.

The total number of confirmed cases in the US has risen over the 1 lakh mark. Italy has now overtaken China in terms of the number of confirmed cases to become the second worst-affected country in the world. As many as 1,04,837 have been affected by the novel coronavirus in the US, 86,498 in Italy and 81,948 in China.

Cases in J&K rise to 27

The Jammu and Kashmir COVID-19 cases rise to 27, doubling since Friday, when it was just 13. Seven cases were reported in Kashmir on Saturday. According to sources, three hospitals in Sringar have been converted into full-fledged facilities for COVID-19 patients.

UP government arranges buses for stranded migrant workers

The Uttar Pradesh government announced that it will deploy 1000 buses for workers that have migrated to various cities and states in India to help them and their families deal with the transportation hassle and reduce their risk of exposure to the coronavirus.

Chief minister Yogi Adityanath tweeted, “The UP government has arranged 1000 buses to help migrating workers to reach their destination without any hassle, due to the lockdown implemented to deal with the corona virus infection.”

“In these unavoidable circumstances, the food and other essential items of the workers going to their destinations after getting away, are also being arranged,” said the tweet.

With eight fresh cases over the last 24 hours, the total number of confirmed cases in Uttar Pradesh has risen to 51.

Kerala reports first COVID-19 death

Kerala reported its first COVID-19 death on Saturday after a 69-year-old man being treated for the virus died at Ernakulam Medical College Hospital.

The man, hailing from Ernakulam, was admitted to the isolation ward on March 22 after his return from Dubai, the government hospital said in a statement. He was admitted with symptoms of pneumonia but later tested positive for coronavirus.

He was also suffering from heart disease and high blood pressure and had undergone a bypass surgery earlier. He breathed his last at 8 am.

In Kasargod, the worst affected area of Kerala, where 34 cases were confirmed in a single day, a 10th standard student of a government school who appeared for the SSLC examination this month, has been detected with the virus.

Her father, who had returned from abroad on March 17, has also tested positive and two other family members are under observation, health department sources said.

Efforts are being made to trace all those with whom the student is suspected to have come in contact.

Gujarat recorded six new cases of coronavirus officials said on Saturday morning, taking the state’s tally of COVID-19 patients to 53.

Of the six new cases, three were reported from Ahmedabad, one each from Vadodara, Gandhinagar and Mehsana.

The number of COVID-19 positive cases in Ahmedabad has risen to 18, followed by Vadodara at nine, Rajkot and Gandhinagar at eight each, Surat at seven, while Kutch, Bhavnagar and Mehsana have one patient each, she said.

The state has reported three deaths so far, one each in Surat, Ahmedabad and Bhavnagar, Ravi added.

Maharashtra now has 160 active cases

Seven more persons tested positive for coronavirus in Maharashtra, where the total number of cases in is 160.

Five new patients were identified in Mumbai and two in Nagpur.

On Friday, 28 persons were found infected with the coronavirus in different parts of the state.

In Nagpur, both the new patients, including a girl, were in close contact with a person who had tested positive on Thursday.

The number of positive cases is increasing in our state but on the other hand we have successfully accelerated the recovery process. Many of the patients are recovering at a good pace and some of them are set to be discharged from the hospital. pic.twitter.com/2leJuzU9uW

The Insofys software engineer who gave a call to the public to sneeze in public to spread the coronavirus has been sacked, the company said.

The tech giant, which had initially believed that it could be a case of mistaken identity, confirmed later that Mujeeb Mohammad was its employee and stated that he has been terminated from service.

“Infosys has completed its investigation on the social media post by one of its employees and we believe that this is not a case of mistaken identity,” the company tweeted late on Saturday night.

The company said the social media post by the employee was against Infosys code of conduct and its commitment to responsible social sharing.

“Infosys has a zero tolerance policy towards such acts and has accordingly, terminated the services of the employee.”

Mohammad had posted on Facebook, “Let’s join hands, go out and sneeze with open mouth in public. Spread the virus.”

He was arrested on Friday night.

Italy, Spain suffer record virus deaths

Italy has logged a shocking spike in its already staggering coronavirus death toll, with officials warning the peak of the crisis was still days away, as the global infection rate surges relentlessly upwards.

With more than 300,000 people infected in Europe alone, the disease shows few signs of slowing, and has already cast the world into a recession, economists say.

One coronavirus sufferer, a cardiologist from Rome who has since recovered, recalled his hellish experience at a hospital in the capital.

“The treatment for the oxygen therapy is painful, looking for the radial artery is difficult. Desperate other patients were crying out, ‘enough, enough’,” he told AFP.

In one bright spot, infection rates in Italy continued their recent downward trend. But the head of the national health institute Silvio Brusaferro said the country was not out of the woods yet, predicting “we could peak in the next few days”.

Spain too said its rate of new infections appeared to be slowing, despite also reporting its deadliest day.

Europe has suffered the brunt of the coronavirus crisis in recent weeks, with millions across the continent on lockdown and the streets of Paris, Rome and Madrid eerily empty.

Over 80 countries have already requested emergency aid from the International Monetary Fund, IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva said on Friday, warning massive spending will be needed to help developing nations.

“It is clear that we have entered a recession” that will be worse than in 2009 following the global financial crisis, she said.